Favorite Chinese-English Dictionary?

[Lauren88]

Hi,

I'm wondering what everyone's favorite Chinese-English dictionary is. It seems the Oxford Starter Dictionary (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0198602588/qid=1129599273/sr=8-11/ref=pd_bbs_11/002-4315799-1487230?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)

is recommended for beginners, but I'd like to hear from anyone currently studying Chinese.

[kudra]

for online dictionaries, see the thread

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/6-downloading-chinese-music473&highlight=online+dictionary

also search the forums for plecodict for electronic ones that fit on a palm. Being a free time learner based in the US, I am satisfied with online. But if I were out and about in Beijing, that would be a different story.

[Lauren88]

I'm specifically talking about actual book dictionaries, not online.

[MarkKang]

One comment on Amazon suggested you just get the regular Oxford, which makes sense to me.

My favorite Chinese to English is The New Age Chinese-English Dictionary published by the Commercial Press.

[Celso Pin]

"One comment on Amazon suggested you just get the regular Oxford, which makes sense to me."

It was an insulated comment among tenths others...

As a Beginner, I think Starter is better for Beginners!

However, be aware Oxford Starter does not have tradicional... the advantage is the usage exemples (great!).

[beirne]

My favorite is the ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary: Alphabetically Based Computerized by John DeFrancis. I use the electronic version in Wenlin and Plecodict, but there is also a paper version available at Amazon. It has a huge number of entries. Also, being sorted by pinyin it is easy to look up words if you know the spelling.

[dalaowai]

Are you studying in your home country or China?

I've used many different kinds of dictionaries and have never felt fully satisfied. Last year, I bought a Chinese-made electronic dictionary made by a company named "Insta Dict". This dictionary not only had obscure words or expressions, such as "Kodak Moment", it also has a large vocabulary section broken off into every imaginable section (i.e. Health, Sports, Food, Animals, Social life, etc). There's a section for Chinese idioms with the pinyin equivalents.

If you're in China, have a look for it, it's decently priced between 250-500RMB depending on the model that you choose.

[jungletech]

I decided against the Starter version and went for the regular Oxford. I've never tried using the Starter version though, so I wouldn't be able to say for sure which one was better. I don't look words up very intesively, but I've been able to find whatever I was looking for pretty easily, and am happy with the regular version.

[maxham]

I swear by "A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary" from the Commercial Press, Beijing. Don't know if its the same one that Mark Kang recommends?? It doesn't have English- Chinese though. I originally had a copy that my mother bought when studying Chinese in the mid-80s, I bought another copy about five years ago when that fell to pieces....my current one is looking a little the worse for wear after being toted around a lot....won't hesitate to buy another one when this one reaches the end of its life. My 2000 copy has a price tag of 30RMB so it's not expensive (that's buying in China of course)

[Lauren88]

I'm in the US right now, but I leave for Beijing to study Chinese in early December. Basically, I'm trying to decide whether I should buy my dictionary (dictionaries?) here before I go, or wait until I'm there.

[Jo-Ann]

DeFrancis' ABC is terrific.

I also use the Concise - both pocket-size and 2nd edition.

The Learners Chinese English Dictionary is great for easily counting strokes.

A NEW English - Chinese Dictionary has every word in the world, but no pinyin.

A Practical English- Chinese Dictionary -- (Foreign Langages Press and Sinolingua) is good in that it has examples of the words in sentences.

My Pinyin Chinese-English (Comercial Press) is almost worn out, but I've had it the longest.

I use all of them frequently.

[dalaowai]

You'll get the same selection of paper back dictionaries in China. You can buy your paperback dictionary back home. They're pretty much all the same. Once in China, buy an electronic one.

[MarkKang]

I swear by "A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary" from the Commercial Press, Beijing. Don't know if its the same one that Mark Kang recommends

Wouldn't be the same. Mine is the "New Age..." and it weighs about 3 pounds. 185rmb. The headword has pinyin, however the Chinese sentence examples do not.

I also use DeFrancis ABC a lot. I have the electronic as part of Plecodict, which incidentally, if you are going to learn how to read characters, it's definitely the secret weapon you need. It has a great flashcard function.

Lauren88- Dictionaries published in China you can wait and purchase here, you will save almost 50%. If it's a publisher outside China, you probably can't find it here.

Anyone want to see stroke order for the most common 2000 characters? Then you need Cheng and Tsui Chinese Character Dictionary.

Dalaowai- Where did you get that Insta-Dict from, It sounds really interesting.

[HashiriKata]

Basically, I'm trying to decide whether I should buy my dictionary (dictionaries?) here before I go, or wait until I'm there.

If money is tight and I can only buy one, I'd leave it till I'm in China (cheaper there and there are plenty to choose from, not to mention the opportunity to see them before buying, etc)

However, it's also a good thing to have more than one dictionary, so you can buy one now and buy again when you're in Beijing (I've got at least 10 for Chinese!). If you want to buy now and if you are a beginner, I'd recommend Oxford Starter (lots of good examples) and Langenscheidt Pocket (easy to carry, strictly alphabetically arranged.)

[dalaowai]

Mark - I got instadict at a shop on fuzhou lu in Shanghai. However, I've seen them all over the place, in electronic malls on Xujiahui as well.

[Lu]

Lauren88, by all means, buy your dictionaries in China, they're much, much cheaper there.

For everyday use I recommend the Concise (also known as the little red book), only Y30 when I bought it in Beijing. DeFrancis' ABC Dictionary is also good.

But the best dictionary I know is The Contemporary Chinese Dictionary, Chinese-English Edition. Dark blue with a red back. Should be Y100. Every lemma has the word in Chinese; explanation in Chinese; word in English; explanation in English. And it has a lot of words, also a section of 'new words' in the back. Highly recommended.

Hashirikata: I thought I was a weird dictionary-fetishist to have more than ten dictionaries, most of them for Chinese, but apparently I'm not so strange after all :-)

[HashiriKata]

Hashirikata: I thought I was a weird dictionary-fetishist to have more than ten dictionaries, most of them for Chinese, but apparently I'm not so strange after all :-)

10 is a conservative estimate and I've been to China only once on a short trip. And yes, I find dictionaries quite arousing! .

[nipponman]

I only have two dictionaries and one of them is crappy:roll: . But the other one fulfills most of my dictionary needs. It is the "Concise Chinese English English Chinese Dictionary, 3rd edition" It is a nice dictionary, as it has many meanings for characters and it goes by common words, not by grades so you can see which characters are still used, which are not. It also has the interesting feature of being organised by character rather than chinese pronounciation. Even though the pronunciation part is still alphabetized, it goes by character instead of by random pinyin, Which is pretty cool.

[ck3908]

I really like this one and I've searched many before:

Chinese Character Fast Finder (Paperback) by Laurence Matthews

I'm American Chinese and was never taught the written language so basically spent my whole life trying to catch up ... Now I'm even trying to build a China-based business so I better get moving!

Looking up Chinese characters in most dictionaries was nearly impossible to do because of the seemingly random nature of the characters and I thought Matthews came up with a nice logical system in his book to help locate characters quickly in a dictionary. The best thing is to try it out at a bookstore to see if it really works, because I did, and thought it was pretty neat. I don't get the impression it is an exhaustive dictionary but I believe it covers enough for any beginner to get by.

[maxham]

I also have a Reverse Chinese-English one which comes in very handy at times. You look up compounds by their final character, rather than the initial character. i.e.if you know the second character of a compound but not the first, you can look up the second character and it will list all compounds that end with that character. Can save an awful lot of time.........I've always been a little puzzled that it's not more popular. I've seen it in bookshops but only ever come across one other student that had it.